Environmental justice, for those of you who may not be familiar with the term, goes something like this: no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other. Majora Carter More Quotes by Majora Carter More Quotes From Majora Carter You shouldn't have to leave your neighborhood to live in a better one. Majora Carter neighborhood We've got to decide that we want to live in a world that is sane and happy and healthy, and that everyone deserves that. Majora Carter healthy want world Environmental justice [means that] no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other. Majora Carter community justice mean Poor people of all colors are getting poorer and our communities are getting more toxic. There is a misconception that to grow our economy we will have to do business as usual, because cleaning up the environment, mitigating climate change is just too costly. Well, I say the business of poverty is just too expensive a bill for humanity to pay any longer. Majora Carter community color people If we are going to be part of the solution, we have to engage the problems. Majora Carter solutions problem ifs To me, charity often is just about giving, because you’re supposed to, or because it’s what you’ve always done — or it’s about giving until it hurts. Majora Carter often-is hurt giving Build. Transform. Love. These are words I use all the time as we speak about community building and even real estate development because these are the kind of communities, like, we want to show you don't have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one. And when people think about living in a neighborhood, they are not thinking about fight - the community of their dreams, they are not fighting in it, they are not struggling in it. It's not, "Oh, I gotta put on my armor." All the time. I don't want to live like that. I don't. Majora Carter real struggle dream Race and class are extremely reliable indicators as to where one might find the good stuff, like parks and trees, and where one might find the bad stuff, like power plants and waste facilities. Majora Carter motivation inspiration race As a black person in America, I am twice as likely as a white person to live in an area where air pollution poses the greatest risk to my health. I am five times more likely to live within walking distance of a power plant or chemical facility, which I do. Majora Carter distance motivation inspiration I have no interest in arguing with haters, and also, I really don't want to be associated, you know, with a group of people who are only pushing to fight against something and not for something. I do want to be known as different. Period. And I believe in the self-determination of all people and if that's the way people want to define themselves, so be it. Majora Carter fighting believe people You know, I personally think that gentrification happens long before you start seeing white people in formerly people-of-color neighborhoods. It starts happening when we start telling the young, hard-working, quote-unquote "smart" kids that they need to measure success by how far they get away from our communities. Majora Carter smart kids thinking I want to be known as someone who got caught trying. Yup. Trying to make communities that didn't think much of themselves see themselves as fabulous, powerful, beautiful, loving, kind, members of this world. That's what I want people to say about me. Majora Carter powerful beautiful thinking Jane Jacobs work wouldnt have been complete if it hadn't inspired others to carry it on, and evolve Jane's groundbreaking accomplishments so that the essential kernel of thought remains relevant for future generations. The essayists in What We See have built on those essential footholds that people who have never heard of Jane Jacobs will benefit from for decades. Majora Carter essentials accomplishment people It's time to stop building the shopping malls, the prisons, the stadiums and other tributes to all of our collective failures. It is time that we start building living monuments to hope and possibility. Majora Carter shopping motivation inspiration We want to bring enterprise back to blighted urban areas. People there have been told nothing is ever going to change. The policy makers may feel the same way. Majora Carter want may people Neither the Destruction of the Ninth Ward Nor the South Bronx Was Inevitable Majora Carter inevitable bronx destruction Sustainable South Bronx advocates for environmental justice through sustainable environmental and economic development projects. Majora Carter environmental development justice Even when we think or talk about recycling, lots of recyclable stuff ends up getting incinerated or in landfills and leaving many municipalities, diversion rates - they leave much to be recycled. And where is this waste handled? Usually in poor communities. Majora Carter leave talk think poor Just because you have a piece of trash and you throw it away and it gets hauled away, it doesn't mean that it's not affecting someone else. Majora Carter just-because someone you trash Working-class and poor urban Americans are not benefiting economically from our current food system. It relies too much on transportation, chemical fertilization, big use of water, and also refrigeration. Majora Carter poor too-much food water
